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Dark Shadows, Bright Life: Poems
Poems about my experience in the Holocaust. From a naive childhood to a rude awakening in two concentration camps, I bear witness to the events of the Holocaust and the time after.
Paperback
Published July 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 20, 2026
This poetry collection is both haunting and beautiful. In it, Gabriele describes her struggles between being stuck in the memories of the concentration camps and her present day life.
Ever since I started reading this poetry collection, I cannot stop thinking about it. I keep going back to certain stanzas and reading them over and over again. There is so much raw emotion in those lines, in the hardship of PTSD. In the hurt of a community who still feels the effects of persecution. I thought these poems did a great job describing how much her experiences can't be put into words. They haunt her, day in and out, but she doesn't have enough words in the world to describe the horror of losing her family as a child. Of being sent to a place where she was starved and told to keep quiet.
The author contrasts her past with her present. How she's built a new family and found community among Holocaust survivors. And I thought she did a really good job describing how the love she felt from them kept her afloat, but it didn't erase what happened. Her memories were still there, always present with her.
I don't know. My review is certainly not as eloquent as this author. I just wanted to try and say how deeply this poetry collection impacted me. If you want to read it for yourself, there is a free digital copy on Internet Archive. I highly recommend reading it, even if you only read a few poems from it.
Ever since I started reading this poetry collection, I cannot stop thinking about it. I keep going back to certain stanzas and reading them over and over again. There is so much raw emotion in those lines, in the hardship of PTSD. In the hurt of a community who still feels the effects of persecution. I thought these poems did a great job describing how much her experiences can't be put into words. They haunt her, day in and out, but she doesn't have enough words in the world to describe the horror of losing her family as a child. Of being sent to a place where she was starved and told to keep quiet.
The author contrasts her past with her present. How she's built a new family and found community among Holocaust survivors. And I thought she did a really good job describing how the love she felt from them kept her afloat, but it didn't erase what happened. Her memories were still there, always present with her.
I don't know. My review is certainly not as eloquent as this author. I just wanted to try and say how deeply this poetry collection impacted me. If you want to read it for yourself, there is a free digital copy on Internet Archive. I highly recommend reading it, even if you only read a few poems from it.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review